For better or worse, we're coming to the end of the development period for the blue group procured in the middle of last decade. We can pretty much call the winners and losers in that competition, but a better question might be "who's next?"

The mid-00's group

During the final phase of Kevin Prendergast's time as scouting director, the Oilers devoted several of their top picks to defensemen. Two of their top 3 picks in 2005, both of their top picks in 2006 and one of their three first rounders in 2007 were devoted to the blue. The results are not complete but we know the range:

Taylor Chorney, 2nd round in 2005: Has played in the NHL for 56 games but has not performed at a level that suggests he's going to dress in 200 or more (generally considered the lowest requirement for "covering the draft bet" for top picks). The jury is still out, and he has the added advantage (such as it is) of needing to clear waivers.

Danny Syvret, 3rd round in 2005: Syvret was sent down the line some time ago and has found his level in the NHL system: a solid AHL defender who is among the top candidates for recall. He has played in 59 NHL games and would have to be considered a player who covered his bet.

Jeff Petry, 2nd round in 2006: The star of this group, he has a nice range of skills and could be a "complete" defenseman. Petry's ability to perform at evens, PK and PP are huge items moving forward but he has the look of an outstanding draft selection. Has played 35 NHL games.

Theo Peckham, 3rd round in 2006. Taken outside the area where we should expect a large return, Peckham has played in 102 NHL games and has already covered the bet. He is the most likely player mentioned here to surpass 200 games and like Petry, he has the look of an outstanding selection.

Alex Plante, 1st round in 2007. The highest pick of the group looks like he'll be the poorest selection. Has played in 7 NHL games so far but the acquisition of Colten Teubert may cut off his NHL opportunity with the Oilers. Plante was taken in the first round, so there will be other chances but the sun looks like it is setting on his Oiler career at this time. If he's going to recover, 11-12 in OKC would be the time and place.

Draft Winners or on track: Petry, Peckham, Syvret

Outside looking in so far: Plante, Chorney

2008-11

During the first phase of Stu MacGregor's time as scouting director, the Oilers devoted just a few of their top picks to defenders. None in 2008 (MBS's first year) were selected in the top 3 rounds, they picked one defender each in 2009 and 2010 in the top 3 rounds and then took two in the first 2 rounds this past season.

Troy Hesketh, 3rd round in 2009: It's rare that we can make a certain call this quickly after a draft, but in the case of Hesketh there was an extreme failure to launch. Whatever they saw, whatever their scouts had a passion for, fizzled or wasn't there in the first place.

Martin Marincin, 2nd round in 2010: A strong pick the day it was made, Marincin's arrows are pointed in the right direction despite a subpar second half of his rookie WHL season. He'll need some time, but this selection appears to be a solid candidate for the Petry comparable during the final phase of KP's drafting era.

Oscar Klefbom, 1st round in 2011: We would do well to remember that not all first round picks turn out, but the scouting reports on Klefbom are extremely positive. He is regarded as having a complete player's skills by many, and even if the offense falls off (this can and does happen to defenders for all kinds of reasons, the most likely being lack of playing time on the PP) this player is a solid candidate for future NHL employment.

David Musil, 2nd round in 2011: Despite being selected in the second round, I think Musil is the safest pick in this group of four. He has NHL pedigree, draft pedigree and has been successful in the role he plays (defensive defenseman); it also happens to be the role he'll fill if he arrives in the NHL. Should Musil--as some have suggested--show offensive ability then it's all bonus.

Draft Winners or on track: Marincin, Klefbom and Musil

Outside looking in so far: Hesketh

They're an interesting group. Marincin can turn pro or return to junior, but Musil can't play in the AHL until 2013. Klefbom is already playing in the pro SEL and may be the more advanced than the older Marincin. And I think there might be an argument that Musil could surpise and arrive sooner than either of them as an NHL player. Perhaps it is just that his role is more defined, but I think we should at least consider the possibility that David Musil will be the best of the group.

Offense doesn't always follow players (especially defensemen) to the NHL, and Musil's game is the least reliant on it.

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Why are you so down on Plante? For a guy who was drafted as a bit of a project, and then lost a year of development to injury, i think he has done a solid job of improving. Young D-man take time, and there should be no rush as he still has another year of development in the minors, and he is only 22. I think the concerns of Teubert eating his lunch are reasonable but slightly exaggerated as Teubert, if developed properly, should be spending another 2 years in the AHL. By then a decision on Plante, now 24, will be much easier to make. He may not be a star, but he looks to me to be a solid bet for a useful career.

Why are you so down on Plante? For a guy who was drafted as a bit of a project, and then lost a year of development to injury, i think he has done a solid job of improving. Young D-man take time, and there should be no rush as he still has another year of development in the minors, and he is only 22. I think the concerns of Teubert eating his lunch are reasonable but slightly exaggerated as Teubert, if developed properly, should be spending another 2 years in the AHL. By then a decision on Plante, now 24, will be much easier to make. He may not be a star, but he looks to me to be a solid bet for a useful career.

Plante's problems are the opposite of Chorney's. Whereas Taylor Chorney is a very mobile defender who can't win battles, Plante is a big, tough defender who can win battles if he can get to them on time.

Mobility is his issue. Oilers have procured big men who are faster and the AHL is full (FULL) of defensemen who would be in the NHL if they could just skate a little better.

I don't think we need to be concerned about the offence or lack there of following klefbom to the nhl. What's he gonna have? Half a point

Actually, Klefbom is a guy whose offense could (if he continues to develop) take him to the NHL in a hurry. He didn't play many minutes in the SEL last season but his numbers in tournaments and leagues below the SEL were strong.

He could be a better skater no doubt, but he should improve in that area, has calm feet, and enough reach to compensate. I don't think he is likley to develop into a well rounded top 4 option, but he should be a solid bottom pairing option with trucelance, and an ability to break up the cycle. He is a very good bet to develop into a Hal Gill type, who never made the NHL until he was 24. However i don't doubt there is a very good chance the orginization flushes him before that point. On a side note i've seen it refrenced many times that Chorney was playing the tough comp., however wasn't Plante his most common partner in the AHL? If so, wouldn't Plante taking on the toughs have to be considered a very good arrow?

Did you watch him when he played for the Oilers? He can't skate.... I grind my teeth watching him lug around like he has cinderblocks on his feet.

He never faired too poorly by my eye, and with his reach and continued development he may overcome it. It would be more of an issue if he tended to run around alot but he seems to have calm feet. Not only that the NHL has more than a few big defenseman who aren't exactly fleet of foot, see: Gill, Hal. On top of that, remember Jason Smith? His skating got him traded out of Toronto, but in that regard he seemed to improved year after year in Edmonton. Young d-man take time, and they don;t develop in a straight line... It would be a diffrent issue if the expectation is he would play heavy minutes at evens, against top competiton, but the fact is thats not the role he is likley to have going forward. I'm certainly not insinuating HE WILL be an NHLer, i just think there is still a good chance, and time is on his side.

I am high on the Klefbom pick. I remember reading somewhere that the reason the Wings may have traded their 1st round pick(24 overall) to the Sens was that they were targeting Klefbom and decided to pull the trigger on the trade once the Oil got him two slots before their pick. That is really the ultimate endorsement for this pick if true!!!

What I have noticed with the picks in the last 3 yrs is that there is no off the board picks. I feel that Plante will never have much of a NHL career. Tuebert is still very raw really needs to work on his foot speed as well but could turn into a good player. I think that Musil, Marincin and Klefbom are going to have good careers maybe one might turn into a star. Peckham and Petry are also going to have very good careers. I should also mention Gernat kid looks like a steal. If I had to rate who I thought is the best kid I would say Marincin although I have not seen Klefbom. Marincin I think can have a Pronger effect on the game, just not as mean a player.

What bothers me is that management focused their drafting efforts on forwards first and defencemen afterwards. But since forwards develop more quickly than d-men, we now have a deep stockpile of forwards who will be ready in 1-2 years but a smaller group of defence prospects where most of them will take another 3-5 years to be top-4 quality. Added to that, Marincin is the only one in the group that could possibly be a no.1 blueline anchor, and he has a long way to go to get there. The rebuild effort is definitely out of synch between forwards and defence.

The current D is bad. Whitney is the only legit top-4 and he has health issues. I like Petry and Peckham but they need to keep improving. Gilbert is soft and a cap burden. Smid is a passable no.5/6 but nothing more. Ditto for Barker.

I think management is waiting to see how Hopkins, Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi, etc. develop and when it looks like we have a top-6 that can play as Cup contenders, then ST will make offers for a Weber, a Doughty or possibly an older elite d-man that is past his prime. There's no way this team could draft a defenceman next year and develop him in time to anchor this team during the playoff runs (2013, 14 and 15?); it would take too long and this franchise has no recent track record of successfully developing elite d-men anyway.

While Jason Smith was never 'fleet of foot', I felt that his abysmal passing was the main reason his time in Edmonton came to an end.

It was great watching him crush guys and enforcing his own end, but when it came to turning up the ice, well...

I said his skating got him traded out of Toronto, not Edmonton. Then Toronto coach Pat Quinn didn't feel he had the footspeed. You illustrated my point however in that his skating markedly improved as he got older, to the point it didn't seem like a weakness. Not to say the same thing will happen with Plante, just that after his 21 year old season it's a little early to get the shovels out. Other than footspeed, Plante has solid puck skills, and a strong shutdown physical game. He could be a beauty on the PK in a few years. In regards to Smith, i think he got shipped out because the org. felt the end was near and they could still get great value, which is what happened. Plus Smith deserved to play with a contender for his twilight years. Thanks for the reply

P.S. That Scarlett Johansson pic should be the headliner for every article, photoshoped or not.lol

For me I would like to compre the way Andy Sutton skates to the way Plante skates. I haven't watched enough of Sutton to get a read on him but from watching his highlight hits he's more of a catch the guys with his head down while staying position as opposed to go out of his way to crush the guy. Plante's problem I thought was his lateral mobility. I liked the way he moved the puck and cleared the front of the net. I've also read here and heard Gregor say that Stoll was a subpar skater coming in but made marked improvements in his skating. It's certainly a possibility. I agree the Plante pick was a reach but if we had drafted him in the 2nd round I don't think there would be as much of a fuss about his development. And D-men also take a lot longer to develop. I'm just rooting for him, I liked what he showed.

Not a big Scar-Jo fan (I think she uses some kind of super-advanced bra brought back from the future by Wanye's time-traveling friends to make her sweater cows stand out like that), but much love for Maggie Gyllenhaal and Anne Margaret.

Looking at our current lineup/prospects we can all agree that there is a glaring lack of top dmen. Looking at cap geek Buffalo has some problems that ST could certainly help them out with. If I were ST I would offer a package of Omark, Plante, Chorney and Pitlick for Stafford and Myers. I realize the love for Omark is high on this site but you have to offer quality for quality. Gets Buffalo under cap and addresses right Dman who can play first or second pair. Next year we go after a guy like Weber and our D is vastly improved.